• Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.841-848
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• 2013

Background: The incidence of various types of cancers including the non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) has increased during the recent years. Diet and lifestyle factors have been reported to play an important role in the etiology of NHL. However, no such data are available from the Middle Eastern countries, including Oman. Materials and Methods: Forty-three histologically confirmed cases of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) diagnosed at the Sultan Qaboos University Hospital (SQUH) and the Royal Hospital (RH), Muscat, Oman and forty-three age and gender matched controls were the subjects of this study. Frequency matching was used to select the control population. Information on social and demographic data as well as the dietary intake was collected by personal interviews, using a 117-items semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire. Results: A non-significant increased risk of NHL was observed with higher body mass index (BMI) (OR=1.20, 95%CI: 0.45, 2.93), whereas a significantly decreased risk of NHL was associated with a higher educational level (OR=0.12, 95%CI: 0.03, 0.53). A significantly increased risk was observed for higher intake of energy (OR=2.67, 95%CI: 0.94, 7.57), protein (OR=1.49, 95%CI: 0.54, 4.10) and carbohydrates (OR=5.32, 95%CI: 1.78, 15.86). Higher consumption of daily servings from cereals (OR=3.25, 95%CI: 0.87, 12.09) and meat groups (OR=1.55, 95%CI: 0.58, 4.15) were also found to be associated with risk of NHL, whereas a significantly reduced risk was associated with higher consumption of vegetables (OR=0.24, 95%CI: 0.07, 0.82). The consumption of fruits, milk and dairy products however showed no significant association with the risk of developing NHL. Conclusion: The results suggest that obesity, high caloric intake, higher consumption of carbohydrate and protein are associated with increased risk of NHL, whereas a significantly reduced risk was observed with higher intake of vegetables.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.7 no.9
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• pp.499-504
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• 2020

Service quality of any institution is a pull factor for attracting and retaining the customer. The present study examines the customer satisfaction level toward the quality of service offered by the Islamic banks in Oman. It also aims to find out which dimension influences customer satisfaction more concerning the other dimension chosen for the study. To fulfil the need of the study, a structured questionnaire is distributed amongst 100 customers of Islamic banks. The random stratified sampling technique is used for the collection of the data. The collected data is analyzed using the correlation and the multiple linear regression techniques. The result of the study indicates that timely service provided by the banking personnel has a mean score of 4.57, bank staff readiness to serve the customer has a mean score of 4.36, and the security of the banking operation has a mean score of 4.37 occupies the highest rank in their respective dimension chosen for the study. The study reveals that all three dimensions of quality of service represented by Services Reliability, Services Responsiveness and Services Security have a positive and significant correlation with customer satisfaction. The regression results also indicate that all three dimensions influence customer satisfaction of the Islamic banks.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.25-38
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• 2017

This study investigates the causal relationship between stock prices and exchange rates for six Middle Eastern countries, namely, Egypt, Iran, Jordan, Kuwait, Oman, and Saudi Arabia before and during (after) the 2007 global financial crisis for the period between January 2004 and September 2015. The sample is divided into two sub-periods, that is, the period from January 1, 2004 to September 30, 2007 and the period from October 1, 2007 to September 30, 2015, to represent the pre-crisis period and the post-crisis period, respectively. Using Vector Autoregressive (VAR) model in a multivariate framework (including two control variables, inflation rates and oil prices) the results suggest that in the case of Jordan, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, there exists bidirectional causalities after the crisis period but not the before. The opposite status is available for the case of Iran. In the case of Oman, there is bidirectional causality between the variables of interest in both periods. The results also reveal that the relationship between stock prices and exchange rates has become stronger after the 2007 global financial crisis. Overall, the results of this study indicate that fluctuations in foreign exchange markets can significantly affect stock markets in the Middle East.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.8 no.5
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• pp.885-896
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• 2021

The general role of commercial banks is to provide financial services to the general public and business, ensuring economic and social stability and sustainable growth of the economy. Commercial banks play an important role in mobilizing and channelizing funds for investment activities. This study analyzes the impact of the key financial variables on the net profit of the selected commercial banks in Oman. The study employs times series panel data - cross-sectional analysis of the key financials of five leading commercial banks for a period of 13 years from 2007 to 2019. The results reveal that the correlation matrix of the selected variables has a positive relationship with net profit, assets, deposits, loans, and interest income. However, the findings also shows a negative relationship between net profit and net loans to total deposits ratio. The study found net loans is the main independent variable that influences the profitability of the banks since the key source of revenue comes from the lending operations. The assets, total capital adequacy ratio have a mixed effect on the profitability of commercial banks. The total deposits and capital adequacy ratio have a negative effect on profitability mainly because excessive liquidity will increase the cost of capital and reduce the return on investment. Focusing on lending operations with a sound credit portfolio will improve profitability.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.285-294
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• 2021

The most basic forces of stock market are supply and demand, which increases or decreases on the basis of information. The crucial point is that investor's perception is depending on the availability of information at a particular time. But it is very difficult to understand what they take from a piece of information, and the decision varies from person to person; hence, it is important to understand the behavior of investors in the stock market. In this context, this study is focusing on behavioral investor-type diagnosis testing among financial market players (FMPs) in Oman. The study conducted a review of behavioral types among stock market investors, and attempted to assess the influence of age and gender factors on investor bias. It classifies investor type biases according to the gender and age of respondents. This study employs primary data with a structured questionnaire distributed to an equal number of male and female stock market investors in Muscat Securities Market. The study used sample t-test, one-way ANOVA, CATPCA and ALSCAL to identify the significant difference among age, gender and experience of the respondents. The present study found that all of the investors are influenced by different cognitive biases and, moreover, it depends on investor's gender.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.487-493
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• 2021

This study examines the relationship between three major elements -Transformational leadership, Prosocial Behavioral Intentions, and Organizational Performance of full-time academics from different universities and colleges in Oman. A total of 322 full-time employees from different universities and technical colleges participated in an online survey and hardcopy survey. The data was collected using the primary data collection method. Structured scales were adopted for the study to include all the variables under study (Garcia-Morales et al., 2012; Baumsteiger et al., 2019). The adopted questionnaire was slightly modified to align with the circumstances of universities as well as colleges in Oman. A hypothesis is formed to find out the significant contributions among different sample categories. The correlation method was used to find out the relationship. It was evident from the result that there exists a significant relationship between major variables under study. This study reveals an important characteristic of transformational leadership towards prosocial behavioral intentions as it has a connection with organizational performance. There is limited research available to find out the relationship between prosocial behavioral intentions, transformational leadership, and organizational performance. This research focuses on identifying the antecedents and factors influencing organizations' performance efficiently and productively.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.8 no.3
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• pp.619-628
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• 2021

Enterprise system (ES) reflects a significant IT commitment to achieve corporate goals and satisfy its thrust toward a sustainable competitive advantage. This research investigates the required ES architecture, the value of a well-planned ES, and the human factor capabilities that drive the effective implementation of ES from a management perception. This paper examined the critical factors shaping the business systems' performance, architecture readiness, experts' readiness, and enterprise systems planning. Based on an extensive literature review, the attributes of factors mentioned earlier were identified, classified and then statistically examined using the author's' proposed conceptual structural model. This study employs a quantitative research methodology, with a random sampling technique. This paper has used the data collected from 510 respondents working in service, engineering and health sectors in OMAN. The study model analysis utilized both exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis, followed by a structural equation modeling using SPSS 25 and EQS6.3 statistical tools. The results unveil a piece of remarkable and robust evidence suggesting that ES planning is the most significant aspect of influencing performance, followed by IT personnel, staff and consumers expertise, and architecture readiness.

• Korean Journal of Ichthyology
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.169-172
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• 2013

A malformation of the anal fin in longfin trevally, Carangoides armatus, is described and compared with normal specimens. The fish specimen is clearly shown anal fin deformity with missing of 3 spines and 6 rays. The remaining eleven anal fin rays are shorter than those in the normal specimen. The causative factors of this anomaly were discussed.

• Environmental and Resource Economics Review
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• v.4 no.1
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• pp.103-124
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• 1994

주요 현물유가(WTI, Brent, Oman, Dubai)와 선물유가간의 동태적 관계를 시계열 분석 방법을 이용하여 살펴보았다. 현물유가 및 선물유가들은 1차 적분된 시계열(I(1))로 보여진다. 현물유가들사이 및 현물유가와 선물유가사이에도 공적분관계(cointegration relation)가 있는 것으로 보여진다. 한편, 선물유가는 현물 유가를 인과(Granger-cause)하지만, 현물유가는 선물유가를 인과하지 않는 것으로 나타났다. 이러한 공적분관계 및 인과관계의 결과는 합리적 기대가설(rational expectations hypothesis)에 의한 효율적 석유시장(efficient oil markets)과 일치하는 것으로 보여진다. 수정오차모형(error correction model)에 의해 3/4분기 및 4/4분기의 유가들을 예측해 보았다.

• The Pure and Applied Mathematics
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.359-367
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• 2009

The graph of the parallelogram law is well known, which gives rise to the characterization of an inner product space among normed linear spaces [6]. In this paper we will sketch graphs of its deformations according to our previous paper [7, Theorem 3.1 and 3.2]; each one of which characterizes an inner product space among normed linear spaces. Consequently, the graphs of some classical characterizations of an inner product space follow easily.